Fire Chief Brian Jackvony was before the Marion Finance Committee on Monday night, November 7, requesting a budget transfer totaling $4,500 to replace a blown engine in the fire department’s command vehicle, a 2008 Ford Expedition.
The vehicle, which Jackvony uses to commute between his home in Cumberland, Rhode Island, and Marion, began developing symptoms such as a strange ticking noise and loss of power. Eventually, the check engine light turned on before the vehicle died on the side of the highway near Dartmouth, Jackvony told the committee.
“We had it looked at,” said Jackvony. “We knew it was something that was probably going to lead to a problem like this, and there’s no fix for it except to replace the engine.”
Jackvony said the vehicle engine had been showing signs over the past month or so that led him to believe that the life expectancy of the engine was nearing an end. The vehicle, he said, is in otherwise good condition.
“I feel really confident that it’s worth replacing the engine,” Jackvony said.
This emergency meeting of the Finance Committee, which does not plan to meet regularly until mid-January, came as a surprise to some Finance Committee members, including Chairman Alan Minard, who wondered if the $4,500 job required a budget transfer from the Finance Committee’s reserve fund when the chief’s fire equipment maintenance budget line item still contained $18,000.
“We’re not early into the [FY17] budget,” said Jackvony. “We’re only a quarter in.”
Minard told Jackvony there would be no problem if the line item went over budget towards the end of the year when the committee could simply approve a budget transfer at that time if needed, rather than “pigeon-holing” the funds this early on.
“I don’t think it’s a huge deal one way or the other,” said Minard, who asked the committee members to make a motion either way – either for the budget transfer or simply to allow the funds to be used in the budget line item.
The committee approved the budget transfer in the end.
The Marion Finance Committee settled on meeting every Wednesday at 6:30 pm for budget season beginning January 18, the next scheduled meeting, which will be held at 13 Atlantis Drive.
By Jean Perry